By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Southeast of Saline basketball teams each dropped a road contest with Beloit on Tuesday as the rival Trojans increase their foothold on the league standings.
Girls Game: Beloit 45, SE of Saline 37
On the girl’s side, Southeast put together a valiant comeback bid, holding Beloit to just two made field goals in the fourth quarter, but put themselves behind the eight ball after falling behind 15-2 at the end of the first.
“Second chance points were something we talked about,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “We knew we needed to box out and rebound and that put us in a hole we couldn’t get out of.”
Beloit had three different players in double figures led by Peyton Remus (16), Addison Budke (12), and Cassandra Thompson (10).
On the other side of the matchup, Southeast forced more turnovers (14), than they surrendered (8), but struggled to match pace, with an 11-point performance from Lexi Jacobson and nine apiece from Maddie Harris and Aba Pearson contributing all but eight of the team’s points.
With this result, Beloit tightens its grip on first place in the NCAA (7-1), while SES slides to third (4-2).
Boys Game: #1 Beloit 45, SE of Saline 28
Similar to the girl’s game, a slow start for the boys doomed the Trojans, who found themselves trailing by double digits at the end of the first quarter.
“I thought we did what we needed to do defensively,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “We weren’t perfect but when you hold them to 45 you expect to have a chance. It felt like we got blown out because of our inability to score the basketball, we weren’t able to deliver passes to guys in positions to score and we have to be tougher in that aspect.”
Southeast got their offense rolling in the second half but by then the damage had been done as Beloit pulled away to complete the sweep.
Bryce Beisner led the way for Beloit with 19 points while SES was led in scoring by Gannnon Jacobson (12).
With this result, Beloit moves to 8-0 in league play with just two league games remaining while Southeast slides to 1-5.